Economy puts squeeze on weeknight dinner

WASHINGTON -- With all the recent turmoil, it may seem the least of our collective worries is the escalating cost of food. But for millions of Americans, this is a daily worry.

Prices of beef, pork, fruits and vegetables are rising; current bouts of bad weather will not help.

True, we pay a smaller percentage of our incomes for food than much of the world. And too many of us have eaten too many calories over the years.

But most Americans get by on a fixed amount of money each week; 10 or 20 dollars more spent for the same amount of food means something has to give.

Not insignificantly, along with plain old bad weather, climate change seems to be an increasing factor in food prices, along with mysterious blights, government regulations, land prices and changing food tastes.

The price of limes is front-page news. (Yes, we now have the 89-cent lime. The Wall Street Journal found a California Mexican restaurant needing 1,000 limes a week that will give customers a 25-cent margarita in exchange for a bag of limes from backyard fruit trees.)

Apparently, the harsh winter and heavy rains have decreased the lime supply from Mexico, which provides 97 percent of the 500,000 tons Americans squeeze each year. Prices have quadrupled.

But this is about more than the search for half a lime to jam into a bottle of Corona.

In Florida the citrus crop is imperiled by one of the worst blights in memory. No changing out that margarita for a mimosa or a salty dog without worrying about the rent.

As grilling season begins, we learn the number of cattle coming to market has plummeted because of recession and the dreadful winter. For 19 consecutive months inventories in U.S. feedlots with 1,000 head of cattle or more have declined from the same months the previous year. There's evidence beef prices are the highest in 17 years.

Drought now extends to 50 percent of the contiguous United States, causing water shortages and weakening farmland values.

As for pork, prices are at an all-time high because of a deadly pig virus.

And woe to you if you crave healthful "super foods." At an East Coast supermarket, blueberries were fetching $10 for 16 ounces although most customers were putting them back after ascertaining they were, in fact, ordinary blueberries.

The White House, with its own carefully tended vegetable garden, seems unconcerned. President Obama, seen not too long ago exiting a $400-a-person sushi bar in Japan, has other things on his mind.

But prices are skyrocketing so fast it could be an issue in the all-important, crucial, incredibly significant, make-or-break midterm November elections. (If you have been focused on other things such as making a living, Democrats might lose control of the Senate, leaving Obama at the mercy of Republicans who can't abide him controlling Congress.)

More significantly, high food prices hurt the poor and the few Americans left who call themselves middle class. Families are eating cereal for breakfast and dinner; fresh produce is even scarcer on America's tables.

Chalking up the cost of breakfast a few weeks ago, USA Today found eggs up 5.7 percent, tomatoes up 6.9 percent, sausage up 8.7 percent, potatoes up 6.9 percent and oranges up 12.2 percent.

The Agriculture Department says it hopes "normal weather" will resume and prices will settle back to "historical norms."

But after more than a decade of war, Americans are telling pollsters they want their political leaders to pull back from world affairs and fix domestic problems. Who can blame them? The trillion dollars spent on war could rebuild a lot of roads and bridges, address water distribution issues, fund research and start rebuilding the economy so a few more dollars spent at the supermarket wouldn't be so painful for so many.

Ann McFeatters is an op-ed columnist for McClatchy-Tribune. Readers may send her email at amcfeatters@nationalpress.com.

Want to leave your comments?

Lime prices went up due to a drug cartrel controlling the supply. Food supply and prices are no longer controlled by local farmers, but by conglomerates.

Ann would like the President to do something about rising food prices resulting from her list: draught, blight, pig virus, land prices (shrinking number of family farms, shrinking farmland), changing demand, and climate change.

Bam's response is a government solution is an opportunity for waste, and the poor can starve, because that's his capitalist solution: you lose, you die. For a real solution to offset problems with the system that increasingly victimizes us all, he offers no response. Waiting for the revolution?

BuzzKillington

May 10, 2014 6:54AM

Food prices are another good reason to raise the minimum wage and break from the GOP's position of keeping wages at poverty levels.

herewegoagain

May 10, 2014 6:51AM

Don't worry Bam, A far thinking Democrat thinks food stamps should used to buy Guns, buy a gun, hunt for dinner, I wonder how that will play out in Chicago,L.A. or Cleveland alot of game animals moving to the inner city.

bam

May 10, 2014 5:28AM

Maybe just devise another handout or two,that should do the trick.And we could double the gas tax to make sure we can fix a few roads.Don't worry about government abuse or waste,they are both non existant,just ask Nancy,she knows.Or maybe we could just increase the minimum wage,that would be a surefire fix since we know that costs would never go up because of that,right?Whatever the answer,we know that bigger government really isn't it.